1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-vehicle control device.
2. Description of Related Art
A technology is known that continues to detect a vehicle by means of a camera image even when the vehicle, which has been detected by a radar, is lost due to a pitching variation of a host vehicle (for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-048435 (JP 2006-048435 A).
When two sensors, each with its own detection area, are used (the detection areas may be partially overlapped), a sensor of these two sensors that detects an obstacle is switched (changed) from the one that has a farther detection area to the other that has a nearer detection area as the obstacle gets nearer to the vehicle. At this sensor switching time, both sensors may temporarily lose the obstacle in some cases (in other words, both cannot detect the obstacle and a lost state is generated). Considering this, the control operation for an obstacle may be continuously performed (for example, applies the automatic brake) at this switching time for a fixed time while accepting the lost state. However, if this fixed time is short, the control operation for the obstacle may not be continued properly. On the other hand, if this fixed time is long, the control operation for the obstacle may be continued longer than is necessary when there is no actual obstacle but the lost state is generated.